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Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon Taps the Creative Minds of Local Students

The Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K announced a partnership with The Cleveland Institute of Art to design the official participant shirts for this year's 33rd annual race on Sunday, May 16.

CLEVELAND (May 5, 2010) – The Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K announced a partnership with The Cleveland Institute of Art to design the official participant shirts for this year’s 33rd annual race on Sunday, May 16th.

The CIA students were asked to create designs that celebrate the marathon’s 33-year history and expand upon the tagline: The Cleveland Experience. Second-year graphic design students Liz Bermea, Ryan Camp, Andrew Frank and Sasha Thueringer were selected to work on the project.

“The marathon is a large and significant event for the City of Cleveland and we want the community to have the chance to be involved as much as possible,” said Executive Race Director Jack Staph. “Bringing CIA students on board is one more way to get another entity in the city involved with an event that brings tens of thousands of people and millions of dollars to Cleveland.”

The three winning designs were chosen by marathon staff to be included in the 2010 events. One design, featuring a guitar and motivating words associated with a marathon, will be featured on all of the participant shirts. The two other designs will be featured on sale merchandise in the Cleveland Marathon store at the Health & Fitness Expo on Friday and Saturday of race weekend.

“Giving CIA students the chance to design for the Cleveland Marathon was a great idea,” said Mari Hulick, head of CIA's design department. “This project has boosted both our students’ confidence and portfolios.”

“It’s nice to know that our designs will be on display and on sale,” said Camp. “We all worked really hard on this project and I'm proud of the designs we each created.”

Staph said the design concepts submitted by the students were clever, fun and worked well with the established theme of the Cleveland Marathon. “The designs are modern, bold and even play to Cleveland's musical Rock and Roll roots,” said Staph. The winning artwork will be on display on the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon website, clevelandmarathon.com.

The Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon offers the following opportunities for people to participate in the event: full marathon, half marathon, 10K, full marathon walking division, half marathon walking division, 10K walking division, a new 5K (run or walk), Kids’ Run and 10K Corporate Team Challenge. The events take place May 15 and 16, 2010.

For the first time ever, the full marathon and half marathon events have both sold out. Current registrations are up 55 percent from this time last year and race organizers are expecting nearly 15,000 participants in the 2010 events. This is the eighth straight year of record participation numbers for the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon.

About the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K: The Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, Half Marathon & 10K is in its 33rd year of providing a running experience for all individuals who want to participate regardless of their abilities. More than 280,000 runners have participated, generating more than $12 million annually to benefit the Cleveland community.

The Cleveland Institute of Art was established in 1882. Over the years it has earned a reputation for being among the top ten professional colleges of art and design in the country. The Cleveland Institute of Art offers an exceptional college experience in many ways. Its unique features have benefits that make its graduates competitive as gallery artists, product and transportation designers, graphic designers, photographers, contemporary craftsmen, and educators. For more information about the Institute, visit www.cia.edu or call (800) 223-4700.